TAUNTON -- A homeless man suspected of stealing a metal safe containing prescription medicine from his disabled girlfriend has been charged with three criminal counts.

Ralph E. Medeiros, 49, was arrested Sunday for larceny of a drug, receiving stolen property with a value of less than $250 and malicious destruction of property under $250.

Police said they received a report at 2:30 p.m. of a bald white man smashing a metal safe on the ground near a laundromat at Bay and Whittenton streets.

An officer said when he arrived he saw Medeiros throwing the safe to the ground in the parking lot of the adjacent St. Jude the Apostle Parish.

When the patrolman went back to his cruiser and drove into the church’s parking lot Medeiros reportedly threw the safe into a trash bin and started to walk away.

Police said the safe was badly damaged and its door was broken open. They said more than 10 containers of prescription pills were either still inside or had spilled out into the trash container.

The police officer said he recognized the name of a disabled woman to whom the pills were prescribed as someone living in the same Whittenton neighborhood.

The patrolman said when he went to the group home holding the safe in his arms, the woman appeared “very surprised.”

She allegedly said her boyfriend, Medeiros, stopped by that afternoon and they walked out together so she could have lunch with other residents of the building.

The woman told police she had just come back to the apartment before police knocked on her door. Police say she didn’t have much to say when she was informed Medeiros had destroyed the safe behind the laundromat.

Medeiros allegedly told police he never went back to the woman’s apartment to steal the safe and instead he found it lying in the roadway. He said he was trying to break it open to see if it contained cash, police said.

Medeiros allegedly said he didn’t return the pills to the woman because he didn’t see a name or names on the bottles. When police told him the name was clearly visible, Medeiros allegedly told them to go ahead and “do whatever” because he’s “been there before.”